第16章 紅鞋 The Red Shoes(第5/13 頁)

a count, but had not fitted.

“那一定是漆皮的！” 老婦人說。

“that must be patent leather!” said the old lady.

“它們好亮啊！”

“they shine so!”

“是的，它們很亮！” 卡倫說，鞋子很合腳，於是就買下來了，但老婦人不知道鞋子是紅色的，否則她絕不會讓卡倫穿著紅鞋去參加堅信禮的。

“Yes, they shine!” said Karen, and they fitted, and were bought, but the old lady knew nothing about their being red, else she would never have allowed Karen to have gone in red shoes to be confirmed.

然而事實就是如此。

Yet such was the case.

每個人都看著她的腳；當她穿過教堂聖壇的門，走在教堂的石板地上時，在她看來，墓碑上那些古老的雕像，那些戴著硬領、穿著黑色長袍的老牧師和牧師夫人的畫像，都在盯著她的紅鞋看。

Everybody looked at her feet; and when she stepped through the chancel door on the church pavement, it seemed to her as if the old figures on the tombs, those portraits of old preachers and preachers’ wives, with stiff ruffs, and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red shoes.

當牧師把手放在她頭上，談到神聖的洗禮、與上帝的契約以及她現在應該成為一名成熟的基督徒時，她心裡只想著那雙紅鞋；

And she thought only of them as the clergyman laid his hand upon her head, and spoke of the holy baptism, of the covenant with God, and how she should be now a matured christian;

風琴莊嚴地奏響；甜美的孩子們在唱歌，老音樂指揮們也在唱歌，但卡倫只想著她的紅鞋。

and the organ pealed so solemnly; the sweet children’s voices sang, and the old music - directors sang, but Karen only thought of her red shoes.

下午，老婦人從每個人那裡聽說鞋子是紅色的，她說卡倫這樣做非常錯誤，這一點也不合適，以後即使卡倫長大了，去教堂也只能穿黑鞋。

In the afternoon, the old lady heard from everyone that the shoes had been red, and she said that it was very wro